Thoughts on Life from Among the Weeds.

Menu

Birthday Business

Today was my birthday anniversary! To mark the auspicious occasion, the Thistle Family spent a relaxing day at the beach. In our home, we have an unwritten (but generally understood) rule that birthdays are family holidays, and we treat them like the special days that they are. We always spend the day doing something enjoyable (and usually pretty frugal, too!). Luckily, we are all pretty easy to please : Time with each other is a perfect gift.

Whether it’s a bowling expedition for Mr. Thistle’s winter birthday, a beach day-trip outing for my almost-Memorial Day birthday, or a stroll through the zoo for Miss Thistle’s special day, it’s always lots of fun for the whole family. We have yet to see how we will spend Little Thistle’s wintry birthday anniversaries, but I’m sure they will be great.

Today we found ourselves at one of our favorite little “hidden gem” beaches on the Eastern Shore in Maryland. I sometimes choose a visit to the beautiful Victorian town of Cape May, New Jersey for my birthday outing, but since it has been less than a week since our journey to Acadia, I decided to choose something a little closer to home. We enjoyed a relaxing drive to the Chesapeake Bay, and set up our beach camp on a completely deserted beach. Private beach birthday? Thank you, I will!

The tiny waves and gently sloping shoreline were perfect for Miss Thistle, and she flung herself into the water with enthusiasm, even though it was a tad cold. When tummies rumbled for lunch, Mr. Thistle popped off the beach for a few moments to procure a delicious, hot, cheese pizza. (Of course, I brought the pizza box home to use as a weed-blocker under the mulch on my garden paths! No sense in wasting it).

We collected pretty pebbles and a few pieces of sea bay glass. Little Thistle took a long, peaceful snooze in the shade of our canopy. Mr. Thistle fiddled with his radios to see if there were any other hams on the air (no luck). Miss Thistle filled up her bathing suit with sand and howled about it later. I closed my eyes and soaked up the sounds of the waves and the swooping barn swallows.

We headed home in the late afternoon, and met up with my parents who very sweetly treated us to a birthday sushi dinner! I enjoyed miso soup, a TNT roll (love), spicy tuna, and a futomaki. Our favorite sushi place had a new fish in their aquarium, so we all appropriately admired its fancy fins. (Although, it seems a little cruel and unusual for sushi restaurants to have aquariums, now that I think about it …).

To finish off the day, my Mama invited us over for some delicious chocolate cupcakes she had made that afternoon. She knows just what I like: Chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Little Thistle was completely hilarious with his facial expressions when I blew out my candles, and we all had a good laugh.

So, here’s to birthdays! I had a great one, filled with all the things I love. I woke up to birthday greetings sent from my sweet brothers; received a hand-drawn card (and a penny) from cute little Miss Thistle; enjoyed a lovely, heart-felt card from Mr. Thistle, got text messages from friends throughout the day; picked up a free birthday drink at Starbucks; received beautiful surprise flowers and fruit from my oldest brother and his wife, delivered right to my front porch; ate sushi; and spent the day relaxing and having a grand time. Oh, and let’s not forget those cupcakes!

What a great day … Thank you to everyone who made it special! (And a special shout-out to my Mama who deserves a great deal of credit for making today my birthday. These are the kind of things you think about after you are a mother yourself!Birth-days are no joke).

What is your favorite way to spend your birthday? And, most important, what is your cake flavor? (Chocolate – Chocolate for life!)